Pullin' for Kids: 'There's nobody else doing it'

Local man starts annual tractor pull fundraiser to help find a cure for grand-nephew's rare disease

Karen Botakaren.bota@sentinel-standard.com

At an age when many young people are looking forward to receiving their driver's license, Wyatt Fuss may not be alive.

The 7 year old has been diagnosed with a rare, debilitating disease that causes tumors to grow along his spinal cord. There is no known cure. Wyatt's mother, Jennifer Fuss, said doctors have told her his life expectancy is 16, and he will face surgeries every four or five years to remove as much of the tumors as possible. Although the tumors are considered benign, because of the location of the tumors' "epicenter" behind the main artery of the spinal cord, doctors can not remove it without possibly causing his death.

"Out of all the spinal cord tumors out there, his is the most rare," Jennifer Fuss said, adding that Wyatt was diagnosed at 15 months. "Before the 1990s, (doctors) didn't believe they could go into the spine. If he had been diagnosed 20 years ago, he wouldn't be here now."

The only hope for patients like Wyatt is research to find a cure. That costs money.

Jennifer Fuss's uncle, David Klahn of Clarksville, stepped up three years ago and started Pullin' for Kids (with spinal cord tumors), a family-friendly tractor pull event held at the Clarksville Feed Store. This year's fourth annual Pullin' for Kids runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday behind the Clarksville Feed Store, 401 S. Main St.

Klahn said he started the event because he wanted to do something to help Wyatt's CORD, a chapter of the CORD Foundation, a non-profit organization run by volunteer doctors and parents that raises money for research and development of a cure for spinal cord tumors.

"It's my niece's son," Klahn said. "There's nobody else doing it in the state of Michigan."

Last year's event raised $17,000, he added. This year the goal is $20,000 or more.

"There was no research, nothing being done," said Jennifer Fuss. "Slowly we're opening chapters. There's one in Connecticut, one in Kentucky, and now one in Michigan (in Wyatt's name). There's no other hope as we see it. There's no other research."

Ultimately Jennifer Fuss plans to raise $300,000, enough to fund research for three years, in hopes of finding a researcher who will work to find a cure for Wyatt's specific tumor.

"Even if (someone is) looking to get into the spine safely, it will benefit Wyatt and benefit other children as well," she said.

Fundraising has become a family effort, with Jennifer Fuss's brother hosting an August golf outing and her sister a mom-to-mom sale.

Pullin' for Kids will include a tractor weigh-in (3,500 to 13,000 pounds) from 8 to 10 a.m., an adult tractor pull, kids' tractor pull and other kids' activities, lumberjack contest, silent auction, food and a concession service all day. There is no cost for the day's activities; donations are welcome.

For more information on spinal cord tumors, visit www.cordfoundation.org.